The Art of Living in Australia ; eBook

to speak on these matters, observing that fish is an
important article of food. For, as he proceeds
to point out, the health and vigour of the inhabitants
of the fishing towns, where fish may form the only
kind of animal food consumed, show that it is capable
of contributing, in an effective manner, to the maintenance
of the body under active conditions of life.
Dr. Horace Dobell, too, tells us how nearly fish represents
in food value as equal weight of meat, and how important
it is to other forms of animal food as a mixed diet.
Indeed, it would be possible to adduce similar statements
to an indefinite extent, but my main object in making
these references is to call attention to the value
of fish as ordinary diet. And although it hae
an every-day value of this kind, there are in addition
certain qualities ascribed to fish which render it
particularly appropriate for a large and important
section of our population.

I refer to the brain workers. I say large and
important, because in their ranks are to be found
literary men and journalists, members of the professions,
active-minded, busy men of the commercial world, and
the vast array of those having mental work and clerical
occupations. In one of the latest books on the
subject of food and diet by Dr. Burney Yeo, he remarks
that it is the custom to speak of fish as an “intellectual”
or “brain” food, on account of the phosphorus
contained in it. But he adds that much of its
reputation in this respect may be due to its being
readily digested by persons of sedentary and studious
habits. He proceeds to quote Louis Agassiz, the
famous naturalist, who bestows upon fish the following:—­“Refreshing
to the organism, especially for intellectual labour;
not that its use can turn an idiot into a wise or
witty man, but a fish diet cannot be otherwise than
favourable to brain development.”

But if fish is thus a necessary and desirable element
in the dietary of our active daily life, it is not
to be forgotten that it is at least equally valuable
for the invalid. It is often tolerated by the
stomach when the digestive powers are weakened from
any cause. When the system is recruiting after
any exhausting illness, it is usually amongst the
earliest forms of nourishment allowed. In many
chronic disorders, likewise, it is just one of those
things whose place it would be impossible to fill.
And, lastly, it should be ever remembered that many
men whose lives are passed in a state of perfect thraldom
by reason of their extravagant use of butcher’s
meat would find themselves better in health, better
in spirits, and better in temper, were they to curtail
their allowance, substituting fish in its place.